The present invention relates to fishing reels, and in particular, to reels having a drag brake and a ratchet mechanism for allowing unidirectional rotation of a spool.
When a fish strikes a fly, a lure, or other bait, line tension may become excessive and threaten to break the fishing line. Conventional fly casting reels often have a drag brake for this reason. The drag brake will respond to excessive line tension by allowing the spool in the reel to slip on its supporting axis. The slippage will occur without regard to the position or motion of any crank that may normally be used to retrieve the line.
Known reels often include a one way clutch to allow winding but not unwinding of the spool. Unwinding slack line will only tangle it. An angler can unwind line by overcoming the drag brake and pulling a large slack segment from the reel. This excess line is normally held to the side and released during the casting motion.
A disadvantage with known fishing reels is the rather complicated mechanisms employed to provide drag and one way rotation. The mechanism of U.S. Pat. No. 2,686,016 provides a drag brake as well as a clutch and a ratchet wheel. The large number of moving parts makes the reel relatively large, heavy and inconvenient for fly casting. For example, a gear train is employed so that the hand crank is at a different axial position than the spool. In particular, the amount of space occupied by the mechanism on a side of the spool is almost as large as the axial space provided for the fishing line itself.
Other fishing reels have attempted to reduce the amount of space occupied by the reel mechanism by mounting a clutch inside the core of the spool. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,130,671 and 3,432,114. In reels of this type, the clutch can be a pair of opposing rings with rows of ratchet teeth axially facing each other. Winding torque can be applied to a spool because the clutch slips as opposing teeth slide over each other and ratchet. Reverse rotation causes the teeth to lock and prevents unwinding. A disadvantage with these types of reels is that the clutch mechanism must be relatively small to fit within the core of the spool. Consequently the teeth are packed within a small diameter and must sustain a relatively high load. Thus the clutch is noisy, tends to wear quickly, and has a rough feel. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,269,808 and 4,570,878.
Accordingly, there is a need for a smoothly and quietly operating fishing reel with a drag and clutch mechanism that is compact and not prone to high wear.